The Coppell Cross Country Invitational was hosted on the 5K course at Coppell West middle school on Saturday, September 26.  Coppell, Flower Mound, Marcus, and Hebron all from District 6-6A were four of the eight teams competing at the Coppell Invitational.  This season the UIL has shortened team qualifiers from the district meet to two teams instead of the usual three.  Coppell has the talent to be one of the two teams to move on, but will have to contend with four Lewisville ISD schools as well as three Plano ISD schools. 

The Girls’ Varsity team placed 4^th overall.  Highland Park, Marcus, and Flower Mound finished ahead of Coppell this week.  Senior Chloe Hassman led the cowgirls, she finished 10^th overall with a time of 19 minutes, 41 seconds.  Natalie Fleming (15^th, 20:28), Hanna Noyola (19^th, 20:43), Louisa Ehinger (20^th, 20:47), and Morgan Colon (22^nd, 20:52) were the top finishers for Coppell. 

The Varsity Boys team placed 3^rd overall behind Flower Mound and Hebron just edging out Marcus.  Senior Evan Caswell was the individual champion with a course record time of 15 minutes, 36.27 seconds.  Rith Bhattacharyya (8^th, 16:24), Andrew Mullen (9^th, 16:30), Vedant Bhattacharyya (19^th, 17:04), and Kavin Chengavarayan (26^th, 17:22) rounded out the point scorers for Coppell.

The JV Girls placed 4^th overall as a team.  Freshman Alexa Turati led the girls, with an impressive 1^st place finish.  Her time was 21 minutes, 15.6 seconds.  Next in for Coppell were Zoebella Madison (14^th, 23:21), Daniela Chavarria (22^nd, 24:15), Ashlyn Wilbanks, and Saakashi Barve. 

The boys clinched 1^st place overall in the JV division.  Coppell got a 1st place finish from Sophomore Blaine Warner, he ran across the line at 17:25.  He was followed by teammates Jeevan Janeev (6^th, 18:21), Dylan Newsome (7^th, 18:23), Nicolas Marinez (9^th, 18:29), and Jorge Retana (10^th, 18:33).  Coppell placed five runners in the top 10, to win with a score of 32 points.

Head Coach Nick Benton pointed out that the Coppell Invitational provided a good opportunity to compete with some of the main competition in District 6-6A.  “The results provided us with the motivation we need to continue to progress,” said Coach Benton.  He also added, "Events that we host give our athletes a sense of pride and ownership of their program, thank-you parent and athlete volunteers for making the event possible.”  Next on the schedule is the Flower Mound Invitational at Lake Park in Lewisville on Saturday, Oct. 3.